Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHouseholds in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast have lower incomes than those in 79% of Canadian towns
In May 2021, unemployment in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast reached 13%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Getting to work from Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast takes 29.7 minutes on average, an hour or more for 14%. At the 2021 census, Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast sat at the middle of Canadian towns on work: 73% of 15-to-64s had a job.
Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast and work: the main findings
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $64,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 29.7 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 14% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast grades D for jobs and income
Better than 10% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #242 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; its weakest, trip times.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Household income in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast: $64,300 at the median
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Sunshine Coast census division has a higher median. Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast’s median is 26% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The length of the trip to work in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 28 minutes. The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 37%, fewer than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
A commuter town: Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast sends out more workers than it takes in
The job is inside the municipality for 61% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
39% of Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast’s residents in work leave it to work; Sechelt takes the most
- Sechelt45
- Welcome Beach45
- Sechelt (Part)10
- Pemberton10
- Sechelt95
- Gibsons30
- Sechelt (Part)15
- Vancouver10
- West Vancouver10
- Welcome Beach10
Of those coming in, Sechelt supplies the most: 45.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work and the working-age population of Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast
None of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Sunshine Coast census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 42%: many residents are past working age. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 63% of the wider area’s adults in work. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 48%. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
7.3% of commuters from Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast go without a car
Transit takes 1.7% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. By car, truck or van: 87% of commuters, much as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Working at home: 22%, close to the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Sunshine Coast census division, 40% more people receive EI than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 7%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 1,110 people on EI, 2.7 times 2019’s average. That works out to around 3.6 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Sunshine Coast census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
On getting around on foot, Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast grades B
Better than 60% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #176 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
616th of 694: where Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast ranks among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,400
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Invermere British Columbia | 4,305 | 82% | 5.9% | $84K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Rossland British Columbia | 4,355 | 77% | 11% | $96K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Pemberton British Columbia | 3,620 | 84% | 6.4% | $100K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 614 | Central Okanagan West British Columbia | 3,298 | 64% | 12% | $85K | D |
| 615 | Overlanders Alberta | 2,879 | 57% | 14% | $74K | D |
| 616 | Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast British Columbia | 3,256 | 73% | 13% | $64K | D |
| 617 | Delton Alberta | 2,657 | 60% | 20% | $72K | D |
| 618 | Montrose Alberta | 3,378 | 60% | 17% | $73K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 694 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Next to Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast: how nearby places compare
No closer places have figures: these lie 16–37 km from Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast | 73% | 13% | $64K | 29.7 min | D | B |
| Welcome Beach 16 km | 75% | 6.3% | $76K | 26.8 min | C+ | B |
| Sechelt 25.2 km | 81% | 6.5% | $73K | 19.8 min | A− | A− |
| Electoral Area C, qathet 30.1 km | 64% | 13% | $65K | 24.6 min | D | C+ |
| Electoral Area D, qathet 32.3 km | 60% | 15% | $55K | 20.9 min | D | B+ |
| Roberts Creek 36.7 km | 87% | 7.4% | $83K | 23.5 min | A | B− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast
How many jobs are there in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast?
The 2021 census counted about 455 people working in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast: 0.9 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 102 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast?
At the 2021 census 13% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Lower Mainland-Southwest economic region, gives 6.9% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast?
Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast’s middle household had $64,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast get to work?
By car: 87% of commuters, 1.7% take public transit and 5.6% walk; on census day 22% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast?
29.7 minutes is the average trip, with 37% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 14% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast work?
61% work in Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast itself; of those who leave, the most go to Sechelt (95), then Gibsons (30).
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).